It is known to provide a tire, particularly of passenger car or heavy vehicle, with a pressure detector so as to know the pressure prevailing within this tire without having to attach an external pressure sensor to the valve with which the tire is generally provided. Such sensors are used in surveillance systems for pressure of tires on certain vehicles. Such a system is known to those in the art is thus not described in detail here.
An automotive vehicle tire is conventionally mounted on a rim and a valve permits the introduction of air under pressure to inflate the tire (or if desired to let air escape from the tire). When such a tire is provided with a pressure sensor, the latter is generally fixed on the rim at the valve. However, it is also possible to place such a detector at the base of the rim. This position is in certain cases not treated here, preferable to the conventional solution of mounting on the valve.
The present invention relates more particularly to pressure detectors fixed at the base of the rim. To achieve this securement, a support is fixed (for example by cementing or by mechanical means) at the base of the rim and will carry an electronic housing comprising the pressure detector. The support thus comprises on the one hand a hook and on the other hand snap-in means.
The hook of the support is oriented such that its cavity is located on the side of the base of the rim. A housing for the pressure sensor comprises itself an axle coming into engagement with this hook. Thanks to the orientation of the hook, when the wheel turns, the hook forms an abutment for the housing of the pressure detector and thus guarantees good support of this latter.
On the side of the housing opposite the side carrying the axle, the housing of the pressure detector comprises snap-in means complementary to those of the support.
Given the large forces and vibrations to which the pressure sensor housings are subjected, it is desirable to guarantee excellent gripping of the housing on the support to guarantee holding the sensor in place. In one embodiment, the support has a tongue in which is provided a substantially rectangular slot. Upon snapping the housing onto the support, the tongue passes through an opening provided in the housing and at the level of which is located a projection. This latter thus will be elastically introduced into the slot provided in the tongue of the support. The form of the projection is optimized to facilitate on the one hand the introduction of the projection into the slot (presence of an inclined plane) and to prevent the retraction of the projection from the slot (straight edge).
It is very difficult thus to obtain good gripping resistant to high mechanical stresses to which a pressure sensor is subjected. A substantial rejection of the parts is thus to be expected.